The top 13 VC investors in femtech startups

Alongside the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, which are addressing sexual harassment & violence toward women and promoting equity in the workplace, venture capital investors are taking notice of femtech, an industry made up of technologies and products geared toward women's health.

A decade ago,
just $23 million worth of venture capital was invested in the global femtech industry, according to PitchBook data. That figure grew at a modest pace until 2015, when there was a spike in funding that totaled $334 million. In 2017, VC investors participated in 49 deals in the femtech space, totaling $354 million. And this year has already seen
significantly more VC funding for companies in the industry than any year in the last decade: $391.5 million across 36 deals. Over the last decade, 365 VC investors have participated in deals in the space.

Of those 365, a number of them are fairly active femtech investors. Here's a look at the
13 most active VC investors in the global femtech sector since the beginning of 2008, per the PitchBook Platform, including their deal counts:

If the past few years are any indication, those investors and others will likely back more and more companies in the space as the years go on—and they'd be smart to do so. Women make up just about half of the global population and they tend to be the main consumers of healthcare technologies and products, at least when it comes to decision-making.

Ninety percent of women are the primary healthcare decision makers for their family. At the same time, working-age women spend nearly 30% more per capita on healthcare companies compared to men in the same age group and women are 75% more likely to use digital tools for healthcare than men, according to a study from research firm Frost & Sullivan. The report also projects total global earnings for women to jump from $18 trillion in 2014 to $24 trillion in 2020.

VC funding for femtech is likely to continue going up as more and more companies focus on modern health tools for women. Companies like
Babyation and Imalac are making breast pumps that offer women greater independence.
Celmatix is a women's health company that uses genomics and Big Data to make tools for reproductive healthcare.
Univfy offers a platform with customized prediction tests for women using IVF.

Another company that exemplifies the focus on women's health is
Hims, which was founded in 2017 to send hair loss and sexual wellness products to men. The company, which has raised nearly $100 million in VC funding over the last year, announced at the beginning of this month that it's launched a line of women's health products called Hers. That means Hims backers like
IVP,
Forerunner Ventures and
Thrive Capital are also in on the femtech funding wave.

Here's more on venture capital financing going into the femtech space.